Tube Screamer Mods 101

matta · 2009-11-01T17:00:55+00:00

Hi Guys, I thought I'd share some pics of how I spent a day last week, I'll call it 'The Tale of Two Tube Screamers' as I had 2 different TS9's come in for mods. As some may know the 'classic' Tube Screamer is the TS808, later Ibanez bought out the cheaper TS9, R1,000 cheaper today... but the kicker is that only 3 parts differentiate these 2 models and both use the same circuit board... the joys of mass production. These include the circuits opamp (although a few years ago they went back to the 'classic' 4558 chips as shown in the newer unmodded unit) and 2, yes, 2 resistors (costing a whopping 11 cents). The first port of call was to convert the TS9 to TS808 specs, I also socketed the opamp so the clients can experiment with other opamps is they so wish. Another miscoming/shortfall of the TS range is that they suck the low end out of your tone, to alleviate this problem I increased the size of poly cap at the clipping amp stage to allow more low end to pass through, I also upgraded the cheap 1uF lytic bypass caps to high quality German made WIMA's to smooth out the tone. Lastly I replaced the Tantalum tone cap with a better quality PolyFilm, again softening the tone to a more tube like quality. While the mods sound great the TS is a bit of a Tonesucker so both clients opted for the 'true-bypass' which meant including a 3PDT switch. As you can see there isn't much wiggle room in the enclosure so a steady hand is needed... I then had to remove the old FET switching circuit as you can see in the top right of the PCB. Now the pedal passes the input to output in bypass mode, no more tone suck... Lastly I swapped out the Red LED's for a cool Blue, just a nice finishing touch... both clients are really happy and one shared that folks can't believe his tone... 1 point me, 0 stock pedal... Cheers Matt

matta

Hey Guys,

Reviving an old thread. I'm putting together my pedal board and while back I bought a Visual Sound Route 66 from AndyD. I plugged it in and have been playing with it over the past few days. Basically it is a TS808 and Ross Compressor clone in a box.

I love the compressor, twangy and clamps down thick and squigy, but the TS side bothered me. While it was in the realm of TS808, like the Maxon/Ibanez's the 1uF caps are bipolar electrilytics, these smear your tone, causes bass/low end distortion and muddies up the low mids.

I swapped them out with high grade 1uF polys and it's night and day difference, low end distortion be gone!

If you guys only ever do one mod, do this, it doesn't change a TS being a TS, but it will clean up that low end haze/distortion.

Pedals back on the board and I'm enjoying it.

Cheers

Matt

nick

For the not so technical could you point them out on the pic in your first post?

Also, I remember I swopped out a cap on my TS9 to allow more bass through, I'd like to reverse this mod, or just half the cap value to let slightly less bass through.. but for the life of me can't find which cap it is I swopped out.. Can you remember which it is?

matta

Hey Nick,

The two big red capacitors, top left hand side, 1uF. The cap you changed was probably the small red one, in my case the 100nF one in the first picture.

Cheers

Matt

nick wrote For the not so technical could you point them out on the pic in your first post?

Also, I remember I swopped out a cap on my TS9 to allow more bass through, I'd like to reverse this mod, or just half the cap value to let slightly less bass through.. but for the life of me can't find which cap it is I swopped out.. Can you remember which it is?

AndyD

Hey Matt Still loving the ts 808 that you modded for me. Still on my board after 2 years. I guess the mod you are talking about re caps was done on mine. Still sounds Great. Great to see you back on these pages.

« Previous Page